Functional Structure in Nominals


Book Description

This monograph offers an in depth investigation of nominalization processes across languages e.g. Greek, Germanic, Romance, Hebrew, Slavic. Adopting and extending the view that category formation does not involve any lexical operation (recently put forth within the framework of Distributed Morphology), it shows how the behavior of nominals as opposed to that of verbs follows from general processes operating in specific syntactic structures, and is linked with the presence or absence of functional layers (T, D, Aspect, v). It further defines criteria on the basis of which the organization of nominal functional structure can be determined. Moreover, it demonstrates how nominals split into several types, across languages and within a language, depending on the number and the type of functional projections they include. Furthermore, it substantiates the hypothesis that aspects of the syntax of DPs of nominative-accusative languages are strikingly similar to aspects of the syntax of ergative languages and discusses aspects of the syntax of the perfect. The book targets researchers in theoretical linguistics, comparative syntax, morphology and typology. It can also be used as a foundation book on the morpho-syntax of nominals, argument structure and word formation.




Functional Structure in Nominals


Book Description

This monograph offers an in depth investigation of nominalization processes across languages e.g. Greek, Germanic, Romance, Hebrew, Slavic. Adopting and extending the view that category formation does not involve any lexical operation (recently put forth within the framework of Distributed Morphology), it shows how the behavior of nominals as opposed to that of verbs follows from general processes operating in specific syntactic structures, and is linked with the presence or absence of functional layers (T, D, Aspect, v). It further defines criteria on the basis of which the organization of nominal functional structure can be determined. Moreover, it demonstrates how nominals split into several types, across languages and within a language, depending on the number and the type of functional projections they include. Furthermore, it substantiates the hypothesis that aspects of the syntax of DPs of nominative-accusative languages are strikingly similar to aspects of the syntax of ergative languages and discusses aspects of the syntax of the perfect. The book targets researchers in theoretical linguistics, comparative syntax, morphology and typology. It can also be used as a foundation book on the morpho-syntax of nominals, argument structure and word formation.




The Syntax of Nominalizations across Languages and Frameworks


Book Description

The volume explores the syntax of nominalizations, focusing on deverbal and deadjectival nominalizations, but also discussing the syntax of genitives and the syntax of distinct readings of nominalizations. The volume investigates the morpholgy-syntax interface as well as the semantics-syntax interface in the domain of nominalizations. The theoretical frameworks include distributed morphology, and minimalist syntax. Data from a variety of languages are taken into consideration, e.g. Hebrew, Bulgarian, Serbian, French, Spanish, German and English.




The Routledge Handbook of Syntax


Book Description

The study of syntax over the last half century has seen a remarkable expansion of the boundaries of human knowledge about the structure of natural language. The Routledge Handbook of Syntax presents a comprehensive survey of the major theoretical and empirical advances in the dynamically evolving field of syntax from a variety of perspectives, both within the dominant generative paradigm and between syntacticians working within generative grammar and those working in functionalist and related approaches. The handbook covers key issues within the field that include: • core areas of syntactic empirical investigation, • contemporary approaches to syntactic theory, • interfaces of syntax with other components of the human language system, • experimental and computational approaches to syntax. Bringing together renowned linguistic scientists and cutting-edge scholars from across the discipline and providing a balanced yet comprehensive overview of the field, the Routledge Handbook of Syntax is essential reading for researchers and postgraduate students working in syntactic theory.




The Hungarian Nominal Functional Sequence


Book Description

The Hungarian Nominal Functional Sequence combines the methods of syntactic cartography with evidence from compositional semantics in a comprehensive exploration of the structure of Noun Phrases. Proceeding from the lexical core to the top of DP, it uses Hungarian as a window on the underlying universal functional hierarchy of Noun Phrases, but it also regularly complements and supports the analysis with cross-linguistic evidence. The book works out a minimal map of the extended NP in the sense that the proposed hierarchy only has projections which host overt material and it does not draw on semantically empty word order projections. Topics which receive special attention include the syntax of classifiers, demonstratives, proper names, possessive NPs and plural pronouns.




The Emergence of Nominal Expressions in Spanish-English Early Bilinguals


Book Description

This monograph examines the first syntactic unit in child language by presenting a longitudinal multiple-case study that focuses on the inner structure of nominal expressions in bilingual or monolingual child Spanish. This compilation of case studies offers the first insight on some of the properties of nominal expressions in bilingual or monolingual child Spanish and test some of the current theoretical proposals to analyze the main syntactic properties and operations within the nominal phrase. The findings of the study suggest new directions to address some core questions about monolingual and bilingual language acquisition taking as a point of departure the notion of economy, prevalent in the most recent theoretical discussion. Given the combination of empirical and theoretical discussions, this monograph will be appealing to a broad range of researchers in syntax and language acquisition.




Noun Phrase in the Generative Perspective


Book Description

The goal of this book is twofold. On the one hand we want to offer a discussion of some of the more important properties of the nominal projection, on the other hand we want to provide the reader with tools for syntactic analysis which apply to the structure of DP but which are also relevant for other domains of syntax. In order to achieve this dual goal we will discuss phenomena which are related to the nominal projection in relation to other syntactic phenomena (e.g. pro drop will be related to N-ellipsis, the classification of pronouns will be applied to the syntax of possessive pronouns, N-movement will be compared to V-movement, the syntax of the genitive construction will be related to that of predicate inversion etc.). In the various chapters we will show how recent theoretical proposals (distributed morphology, anti-symmetry, checking theory) can cast light on aspects of the syntax of the NP. When necessary, we will provide a brief introduction of these theoretical proposals. We will also indicate problems with these analyses, whether they be inherent to the theories as such (e.g. what is the trigger for movement in antisymmetric approaches) or to the particular instantiations. The book cannot and will not provide the definitive analysis of the syntax of noun phrases. We consider that this would not be possible, given the current flux in generative syntax, with many new theoretical proposals being developed and explored, but the book aims at giving the reader the tools with which to conduct research and to evaluate proposals in the literature. In the discussion of various issues, we will apply the framework that is most adequate to deal with problems at hand. We will therefore not necessarily use the same approach throughout the discussion. Though proposals in the literature will be referred to when relevant, we cannot attempt to provide a critical survey of the literature. We feel that such a survey would be guided too strongly by theoretical choices, which would not be compatible with the pedagogical purposes this book has. The book is comparative in its approach, and data from different languages will be examined, including English, German, Dutch (West-Flemish), Greek, Romance, Semitic, Slavic, Albanian, Hungarian, Gungbe.




Structuring Sense: Volume III: Taking Form


Book Description

Hagit Borer develops a new model of word formation, arguing that on the one hand the basic building blocks of language are rigid semantic and syntactic functions, while on the other hand they are roots, which in themselves are but packets of phonological information, and are devoid of both meaning and grammatical properties of any kind.




The Handbook of Hispanic Linguistics


Book Description

Reflecting the growth and increasing global importance of the Spanish language, The Handbook of Hispanic Linguistics brings together a team of renowned Spanish linguistics scholars to explore both applied and theoretical work in this field. Features 41 newly-written essays contributed by leading language scholars that shed new light on the growth and significance of the Spanish language Combines current applied and theoretical research results in the field of Spanish linguistics Explores all facets relating to the origins, evolution, and geographical variations of the Spanish language Examines topics including second language learning, Spanish in the classroom, immigration, heritage languages, and bilingualism




Morphology: Morphology: its relation to syntax


Book Description

This six-volume collection draws together the most significant contributions to morphological theory and analysis which all serious students of morphology should be aware of. By comparing the stances taken by the different schools about the important issues, the reader will be able to judge the merits of each, with the benefit of evidence rather than prejudice.